Meet Our Faculty

Michael A. Allen, Ph.D.

Political Science
Associate Professor (On Sabbatical)

Research interests: Dynamics of power and how these dynamics foster behavior between states both in conflict and cooperation.

Professor Michael Allen is an international relations scholar that focuses his researching and teaching on areas of conflict (both between states and states and non-state actors), power disparity, and methodology. Allen earned his Ph.D. from Binghamton University and his B.A. from the University of Puget Sound.

Dr. Allen has published his research in International Studies Quarterly, Foreign Policy Analysis, and Conflict Management and Peace Science. His research focuses on questions regarding the dynamics of power in how they foster behavior between states both in conflict and cooperation. Specifically, it touches on issues on why and how weak actors states resist the demands of the most powerful states in the international system, how military basing and alliance formation affects the behavior of weaker states, and why and when non-state actors adopt different types of strategies against states (such as guerrilla warfare or terrorism).

Kathleen Araújo is Associate Professor of Energy Innovation Systems and Policy; the Director of the Energy Policy Institute; and the Book Series Editor for Routledge’s Studies in Energy Transitions. She specializes in policy, technical, and market aspects of energy system change. This encompasses decision-making on resilience and security of critical infrastructure; identifying socio-technical approaches to catalyze early adoption of technology and better practices; and optimally integrating hybrid systems. Dr. Araújo has published works, including Low Carbon Energy Transitions: Turning Points in National Policy and Innovation (Oxford University Press). She earned her Ph.D. at MIT and completed post-doctoral research at the Harvard Kennedy School in science-technology policy, and nuclear safety. She consults for governmental/inter-governmental organizations and industry.

Amanda Johnson Ashley, Ph.D.

Urban Studies and Community Development
Associate Professor and Program Coordinator
School of Public Service Faculty Director

Research interests: Urban revitalization through property-based economic development, public/private partnerships, and civic collaboration; defense investments in cities with a focus on the redevelopment of former military bases.

As a secondary research emphasis, she examines the function of defense investments in cities with a focus on the redevelopment of former military bases. With funding from Boise State University’s College of Public Affairs and Public Policy Center, she along with partners in political science are exploring and assessing how communities pursue military base redevelopment and the extent to which they are successful strategies for transformation and integration.

Dr. Johnson Ashley co-authored a paper on “Cities as Entertainment Centers: Can Transformative Projects Create Place?” and presented it at the University of Amsterdam’s Master Class Workshop on “Explaining Metropolitan Transformation: Politics, Functions, and Symbols,” January 24-26, 2013. In Fall 2012, she partnered with the City of Boise’s Department of Art and History to create a graduate-led project to study the contribution of artist residences in the Treasure Valley. She was also appointed the Mission Advancement Vice Chair for the Idaho Chapter of the Urban Land Institute.

She has been an invited speaker and guest lecturer on arts economic development at national conferences and symposia. She has presented work at the American Collegiate Schools of Planning, Urban History, and Society for American City and Planning History conferences. In addition to authoring policy reports for the Penn Institute of Urban Research and Penn Praxis, she has co-authored two publications, including Crossover: How Artists Build Careers across Commercial, Nonprofit, and Community Work, and Artists’ Centers: Evolution and Impact on Careers, Neighborhoods and Economies.

Dr. Johnson Ashley received a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning in the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political of Science and International Studies from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. Her areas of research and teaching expertise include economic development, community development, housing policy, and public/private partnerships.

Nisha Bellinger, Ph.D.

Political Science
Assistant Professor

Research interests: Economics, causes and consequences of human well-being outcomes.

Dr. Nisha Bellinger began teaching with the Political Science program in Fall 2017. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Missouri and B.A. and M.A. degrees from India. Dr. Bellinger’s research interests primarily focus on political economic themes and her current research agenda explores the causes and consequences of human well-being outcomes.

Chris Birdsall, Ph.D.

Public Policy and Administration
Assistant Professor

Research interests: Public management, performance management, and higher education.

Chris Birdsall completed his PhD in 2016 and his MPP in 2012 at American University in Washington, D.C. Prior to his graduate studies, Chris worked as a Legislative Aide in the Alaska Legislature.

His research focuses on public management, performance management, and higher education. He has published in the International Public Management Journal and presented papers at numerous conferences including the annual meetings of the Public Management Research Association, Midwest Political Science Association, American Political Science Association, and Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Lisa Growette Bostaph, Ph.D.

Criminal Justice
Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator

Research interests: Race and policing, domestic violence and criminal justice system response, and the public perception of the criminal justice system.

With a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Lisa Growette Bostaph came to Boise State University in 2003 to teach in the Department of Criminal Justice, where her major teaching interests are in research methods, policing, women and the criminal justice system, and victimology. In addition to teaching and mentoring students, her research emphasis has been on race and policing, domestic violence and criminal justice system response, and the public perception of the criminal justice system.

Dr. Bostaph’s work and knowledge benefit the community. Under a federal grant, she helped implement the Idaho Victim Assistance Academy. Dr. Bostaph was named to the five-member Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole by Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter in 2012 and was re-confirmed for another term in 2015. In 2013, Governor Otter also appointed Dr. Bostaph to a five-year term as one of two public members on the Idaho Criminal Justice Commission.

Ross Burkhart, Ph.D.

Research interests: Explanatory factors of cross-national democratization patterns, Canada-U.S. Borderlands and environmental policy, and political culture.

Dr. Burkhart specializes in research on explanatory factors of cross-national democratization patterns, Canada-U.S. Borderlands and environmental policy, and political culture. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and has been a visiting professor at the Norwegian Technical and National University in Trondheim, Norway.

Dr. Burkhart’s book Turmoil in American Public Policy: Science, Democracy, and the Environment was published by Praeger Press (2010). His research has also been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including American Political Science Review, American Review of Canadian Studies, European Journal of Political Research, Journal of Borderlands Studies, Journal of Politics, Social Science Journal, and Social Science Quarterly.

Isaac Castellano, Ph.D.

Political Science
Clinical Assistant Professor

Research interests: State security policy, including defense spending, the role of militias, civil war intervention, and climate change.

Isaac Castellano is a Lecturer in the Political Science Department. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Kentucky in 2013, a Masters of Science in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University in 2004, and a Bachelor of Arts from Western Washington University in 2002. He worked for U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell in her District Office for three years. His research examines a variety of issues concerning state security policy, including defense spending, the role of militias, civil war intervention, and climate change. His book Civil War Interventions and Their Benefits: Unequal Return, was published by Lexington Books in December 2014.

Courses: American National Government, International Relations, Civil War and Terrorism

Corey Cook, Ph.D.

Dean of the School of Public Service

Dr. Cook came to Boise State from the University of San Francisco, where he served for six years as the director of the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, which oversees graduate programs in public affairs and urban affairs and works collaboratively with government and nonprofit stakeholders to solve problems facing the university’s region.

Cook has taught political science at USF, San Francisco State University, and Rutgers University. He holds two bachelor’s degrees in political science and peace and conflict studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and master’s and doctoral degrees in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin.

Dan Dexheimer, M.A.

Dan Dexheimer has an M.A. in Sociology (2003), a B.A. in sociology (2000), and a B.S. in Psychology (2000) from the University of Florida. He joined the Criminal Justice department as a lecturer in Fall 2016, after serving as an adjunct for criminal justice and sociology during the 2015/2016 academic year. He teaches a variety of courses, both in-person and online, including introduction to Criminal Justice, introduction to corrections, and senior seminar.

Steven Feldstein, J.D.

Global Studies, Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs

Interests: American Foreign Policy, Democracy, Human Rights, U.S. National Security

Prior to his arrival at Boise State, Feldstein served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. At the State Department, Feldstein was the senior official responsible for overseeing U.S. democracy and human rights policy for Africa, international labor affairs and international religious freedom.

Prior to his appointment at the State Department, Feldstein was the director of policy for the U.S. Agency for International Development. He also served for nearly five years as counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations under chairmen Joseph Biden and John Kerry. He has been published in a wide range of academic and popular publications, including Foreign Affairs, U.S. News & World Report, World Politics Review, and the California Law Review.

Feldstein also serves as a non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and has been a lecturer at American University. He earned his bachelor of political science at Princeton and his J.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.

Luke Fowler, Ph.D.

Research interests: Policy implementation, energy and environmental policy, state and local government, public management, public budgeting and finance, and organizational theory.

Luke Fowler, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Administration, completed his Ph.D. at Mississippi State University in 2013. His research interests include policy implementation, energy and environmental policy, state and local government, public management, public budgeting and finance, and organizational theory.
Dr. Fowler also enjoys working in consultation with local governments. Some of Dr. Fowler’s recent consultation includes focus groups on fair housing for Valdosta, GA and a compensation and scheduling study of police and fire for Moultrie, GA.

Elizabeth Fredericksen, Ph.D.

Dr. Elizabeth Fredericksen is a Professor of Public Policy and Administration in the School of Public Service at Boise State University. She teaches graduate courses on such subjects as public personnel administration, government administration, ethics, grant writing, social inquiry, organizational behavior, and policy process.

Dr. Fredericksen is a co-author of two books, The Politics of Intergovernmental Relation, and Human Resource Management: The Public Service Perspective, and has authored multiple journal articles, conference papers and technical reports. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Fredericksen has consulted with public, private and nonprofit organizations in grant development and administration, ethics, workplace civility, and strategic planning.

John Freemuth, Ph.D.

Research interests: Relationship between science and public policy on issues surrounding public lands.

John Freemuth is Professor of Public Policy, Boise State University. His primary academic interest is in the public lands of the United States. Currently, his work gravitates towards puzzling out the relationship between science and public policy as it relates to issues surrounding the public lands. He wrote “Thoughts on the Role of Science in Public Policy Making” in Ecology and Conservation of Greater Sage-Grouse: A Landscape Species and Its Habitats (University of California Press, 2011).

He is working on two other projects, one a revision of his and Zachary Smith’s Environmental Politics and Policy in the West (UC Boulder,) and, the second, a set of essays titled Public Lands in the Age of Ecology. He chaired the Science Advisory Board of the Bureau of Land Management, after being appointed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. He was the Senior Fellow at the Cecil Andrus Center for Public Policy from 1998-2011 and returned as Senior Fellow for Environment and Public Lands in February 2015. He has also been a high school teacher, seasonal park ranger, and IRS Revenue Officer.

Vanessa Fry, MBA

Idaho Policy Institute
Assistant Research Professor, Research Director of IPI

Vanessa serves as the Assistant Director of the Idaho Policy Institute and Assistant Research Professor in the School of Public Service. Before joining the Idaho Policy Institute Vanessa served as the Assistant Director for the Public Policy Research Center and Policy Innovation Fellow for the City of Boise where she is conducted a feasibility assessment on using Pay for Success financing to address issues associated with chronic homelessness.

Originally from Ohio, Vanessa’s love for the environment led her to non-profit leadership roles and educational pursuits all over the country. For the past fifteen years she’s chosen to promote positive change through advocacy, smart planning, economic development and teaching. Prior to moving to Idaho Vanessa worked with Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology and researched Lyme disease with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Since moving to the state she has utilized her skills in nonprofit management, government relations and stakeholder engagement in a number of roles including as the development director for two nonprofits – the Snake River Alliance and the Environmental Resource Center. As the executive director for Citizens for Smart Growth she pursued the use of a number of market based mechanisms for conservation including a transfer of development rights program. She also worked to pass Idaho’s first county-wide open space initiative that raised over $3 million to protect land, water and wildlife in Blaine County, ID (home to the Sun Valley ski resort). As a co-founder and chair of Sustain Blaine (now Sun Valley Economic Development), the region’s first public-private partnership of its kind, Vanessa focused on creating a regional economic development strategy for all of Blaine County. As a mobility manager for the Community Transportation of Idaho (CTAI) Vanessa helped launch the first statewide mobility management system in the country and worked to increase the connectivity between Idaho’s communities while enhancing quality of life and economic growth.

Since 2007 Vanessa has shared her expertise and enthusiasm for market solutions for sustainability as adjunct faculty for the Capital Markets, Micro/Macro Economics and Macro/Ecological Economics courses at Presidio Graduate School.

Vanessa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and Fine Art from Wittenberg University in Ohio and a Masters in Business Administration from Presidio Graduate School.

Shaun Gann arrived at Boise State in Fall 2017 from Columbus State University in Georgia, where he was a lecturer in the School of Criminal Justice and Sociology. Gann has also worked as a parole officer for the Arkansas Department of Community Corrections.

Gann received his Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati and his M.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Stewart Gardner, Ph.D

Political Science
Clinical Assistant Professor

Research interests: American National Government, Contemporary Political Ideologies, Constitutional Law, American Political Thought

Dr. Stewart Gardner is a Clinical Assistant Professor n the School of Public Service. Dr. Gardner earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Michigan State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Psychology from the University of Washington. He has taught at College of Western Idaho, Texas Pan-Am and Michigan State.

Andrew L. Giacomazzi, Ph.D.

Criminal JusticeProfessor, Associate Dean of School of Public Service

Research interests: Program evaluation, community policing and problem-solving, organizational change, crime control, crime in public housing, community crime prevention, and domestic violence.

Dr. Andrew L. Giacomazzi joined the faculty of the Department of Criminal Justice at Boise State University in 1998. Dr. Giacomazzi has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington State University where he specialized in criminal justice, public administration, and applied policy studies. He also has an M.A. in Criminal Justice from Washington State, and two bachelor’s degrees, in German and Social Ecology, from the University of California-Irvine.

Jill Gill, Ph.D.

School of Public Service, Professor of History,Director, Marilyn Shuler Human Rights Initiative

Research interests: 20th century American social, cultural, political, and religious history with a research focus on the post-World War Two period. In addition to the U.S. survey courses, Dr. Gill teaches classes on the 1960s, the Vietnam War, the History of Multicultural America, American Religious History, Sexualities and American Society, Global Human Rights, and Civil Rights Movements in America.

After a year-long post-doctoral research position with the Center for Social and Religious Research at Hartford Seminary, she taught for two years at the University of Findlay in Ohio before returning to her roots in the Pacific Northwest, joining the Boise State faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2000. She specializes in 20th century American social, cultural, political, and religious history with a research focus on the post-World War Two period. Her book, Embattled Ecumenism: the National Council of Churches, the Vietnam War and the Trials of the Protestant Left (Northern Illinois University Press, 2011) explores the anti-Vietnam War efforts of ecumenical Protestants while using that story as a window into understanding the Protestant left’s decline in political influence. Her current book project focuses on black and white racial dynamics in Idaho. Additionally, she has published articles in Peace and Change, Religion and American Culture, the Journal of Presbyterian History, Methodist History, and The Pacific Northwest Quarterly as well as numerous book reviews, book chapters, and encyclopedia articles.

Lane Gillespie, Ph.D.

Dr. Lane Kirkland Gillespie earned a Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of South Florida in 2013 and joined the faculty of the Department of Criminal Justice at Boise State University later that year. Dr. Gillespie’s research focuses on violence and victimization, including intimate partner violence, the relationship between gender and crime, rural crime and justice, and the role of the victim in criminal justice processes (e.g., capital sentencing). She teaches courses in her areas of research interest, as well as research methodology.

Dr. Gillespie currently serves on the Idaho Rural Community Collaborative for Underserved Youth Victims of Sexual Assault and Dating Violence with fellow SPS colleague, Dr. Laura King. She is also an active member of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and is the current president of the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ).

Dr. Gregory has made more than three thousand hours of professional presentations on conflict management, mediation, negotiation, interpersonal communication, group dynamics and emotional intelligence; and has more than thirteen hundred hours of professional practice mediating disputes, facilitating groups in conflict and working with dysfunctional groups. Additionally, Dr. Gregory has volunteered for more than two-decades with the Idaho Mediation Association, serving on the Board of Directors, as Vice President and President, as Chair of several committees, and as a presenter at numerous IMA conferences.

Beau Hansen, Ph.D.

Environmental Studies
Clinical Professor, Internship Coordinator

Research interests: Impacts of environmental pollution on ecosystem and human health, energy economics and technology, agricultural sustainability. Beau Hansen is a Clinical Professor in the School of Public Service at Boise State University, where he is also the Director of the Environmental Studies Program.

Dr. Hansen earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Arizona, and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry at Boise State University. Over the years, his research interests have touched upon a wide range of topics including characterization of phytolith assemblages, ethnobotany, proteomics, and algorithm development. He has done consulting work in biotechnology, and has owned and managed a contract research laboratory specialized in quantitative analysis of drug candidates in clinical trials. He has taught courses in biochemistry, organic chemistry, toxicology, statistics, environmental studies, and energy.

Lori Hausegger, Ph.D.

Political Science
Associate Professor, Undergraduate Coordinator
Director, Canadian Studies Program
Director of NEW Leadership Idaho,
School of Public Service Faculty Director

Dr. Lori Hausegger joined the faculty of the Department of Political Science at Boise State University in 2005. Her B.A. and M.A. are both in Political Science from the University of Calgary, and she earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from The Ohio State University where her dissertation project explored the impact of interest groups on women’s rights policies of the U.S. and Canadian Supreme Courts. Her current research interests include comparative courts, judicial selection, judicial decision-making and court-Congress relations.

Dr. Hausegger serves as Co-Director of the Canadian Studies Program, as Pre-Law Advisor at Boise State, and as a manuscript reviewer for a number of journals, including American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Canadian Journal of Political Science, and Journal of Politics.

Gregory Hill, Ph.D.

Research interests: Public management, administration, and policy theory and immigration policy

Gregory Hill is Director of the Idaho Policy Institute and Associate Professor of Public Policy & Administration. He completed his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in 2006. He earned his MPA from Idaho State University. His interests center on public management, administration, and policy theory and immigration policy.

He is an avid baseball fan and was invited to present some baseball-related research at the 16th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004. Dr. Hill has extensive survey and research experience in the academic, public, and private sectors. Some of Dr. Hill’s recent survey consultation includes surveying school district superintendents in Texas; working with the Office of Performance Evaluation in developing, managing, and analyzing multiple surveys of the Department of Health and Welfare; producing and analyzing data for the Public Policy Survey.

Monica Hubbard, Ph.D.

Monica Hubbard is an Assistant Professor in Boise State University’s Department of Public Policy and Administration. Dr. Hubbard comes to Boise State University from Oregon State University where she completed her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Dr. Hubbard’s research interests and foci are in the fields of environmental, natural resources, energy, and emerging technological and environmental issues.

Her ongoing research includes water resources, as well as emerging technologies, natural disasters, and energy. Before graduate school, Dr. Hubbard was an environmental policy analyst focusing on corporate environmental accounting, responsibility, compliance, and greenhouse gas accounting. Dr. Hubbard holds a Bachelor’s of Science, Masters of Science in Water Resources, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science.

Courses: Politics, Public Policy Processes, Policy Analysis, the Public Policy and Administration’s capstone.

Marianne Hudson, M.A.

Hudson graduated from Boise State University with both Bachelors and Master’s degrees in 2005 and 2010 respectively. She has been teaching at Boise State since 2008 (as an adjunct) and since 2011 (as a lecturer). She enjoys teaching a variety of types of courses in criminal justice, including but not limited to: corrections, law, organized crime and juvenile justice.

Cody Jorgensen, Ph.D.

Criminal Justice
Assistant Professor

Research interests: Biosocial and developmental/life-course criminology, policing and forensics, perceptions and attitudes in crime and criminal justice, and quantitative methods.

Dr. Cody Jorgensen started at Boise State University in 2015 and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice. He earned a Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Texas at Dallas, an M.S. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University, and a B.S. in Forensic Science and a B.S. in Anthropology both from Weber State University.

Dr. Jorgensen’s research interests involve biosocial and developmental/life-course criminology, policing and forensics, perceptions and attitudes in crime and criminal justice, and quantitative methods. He is currently a member of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

Jaclyn J. Kettler, Ph.D.

Political Science
Assistant Professor

Research interests: American politics with an emphasis on state politics, political parties & interest groups, campaign finance, and women in politics.

Professor Jaclyn Kettler’s research focuses on American politics with an emphasis on state politics, political parties & interest groups, campaign finance, and women in politics. Kettler earned her Ph.D. at Rice University and her BA from Baker University.

Dr. Jaclyn Kettler’s dissertation compares the electoral organization of state political parties using social network analysis and campaign contributions. This approach allows her to examine how the position of candidates within the party impacts their success. In this research, Kettler also studies the role that parties play in linking electoral and legislative politics, which motivates much of her research.

Cheongsin Kim, Ph.D.

Idaho Policy InstituteAssistant Research Professor

Research interests: Local government management and public financial management

Before joining Boise State, Kim worked as a Research Associate for the Bedrosian Center on Governance at the University of Southern California. He received his Ph.D. in Policy, Planning, and Development from USC in 2013 with specialization in public management. His interests are in local government management and public financial management. At present, he is engaged with a team project about how local governments adopt the strategic plans for climate protection and energy sustainability. In addition, he is investigating what determines the levels of fund balances and whether volunteering is a useful means of service delivery that eases fiscal burdens.

Cheongsin’s dissertation, Essays on Fiscal Outcomes of Cities in California, examined what affects the levels of fiscal outcomes such as service contracting and publicly provided private goods.

Laura King, Ph.D.

Criminal Justice
Associate Professor
School of Public Service Research Director

Dr. Laura L. King is currently an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and SPS Research Director. She completed her Ph.D. in Criminology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2012. Her research interests include sexual violence, intimate partner violence, victim services, and gender and crime. She has recent article publications in Child Maltreatment, Criminal Justice Policy Review, and Victims & Offenders.

Courses: Research Methods, Statistics, Violence, Victimology

Jacqueline Lee, Ph.D.

Criminal Justice
Assistant Professor

Research interests: Courts and sentencing, criminal justice policy, integration of social science research with legal research, inequalities in the justice system, and the female experience of violence, offending, and punishment.

Jacqueline Lee arrived at Boise State in Fall 2017 from the University of Maryland where she was a lecturer. She has also been a Graduate Research Assistant at the National Institute of Justice in Washington, D.C.

Lee earned her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland College Park; an M.A. Criminology and Criminal Justice, also from University of Maryland College Park, and a J.D. from the University of Oklahoma.

Stephanie Lenhart, Ph.D.

Global Studies, Urban Studies and Community Development
Assistant Research Professor
Energy Policy Institute, Senior Research Associate

Research interests:Energy and public lands policy, political economy, interorganizational relations, organizational collaboration and adaptation.

Lenhart joined our Global Studies and Urban Studies and Community Development programs in Fall 2017. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree Government and Economics from Cornell University, her Master of Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley and her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Boise State.

Eric Lindquist, Ph.D.

School of Public Service
Associate Professor

Research interests: Public policy and decision processes, agenda setting, earth systems governance, and the impact of focusing events on public policy, as well as environmental policy and science and technology policy

Dr. Eric Lindquist is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Service and leads the Lindquist Policy Research Group. Dr. Lindquist’s research interests are in public policy and decision processes, agenda setting, earth systems governance, and the impact of focusing events on public policy, as well as environmental policy and science and technology policy. His most recent projects focus on wine grape production policy in Idaho, the issue of NASA remoted sensing in decision making, wildfire risk perception in the Wildland-Urban Interface, the use of vulnerability assessments in natural resource decision making, and on the policy implications from nanomanufacturing in the marketplace. His research is funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture and other agencies. He has conducted research on climate change policy and the use of climate science in intergovernmental decision making, as well as the public policy implications of nanotechnology, electric vehicle infrastructure, and nuclear detection technology. Most recently he was the Director of the Public Policy Research Center at Boise State and Interim Director of the Department of Community and Regional Planning. Prior to joining Boise State University, he was the Associate Director for the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy in the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M University. He also held a joint appointment with the Texas Transportation Institute, where he worked in the areas of transportation planning and policy.

Dr. Lindquist has taught undergraduate and graduate political science, public policy, and urban planning courses for Texas A&M University, and the Science and Technology Policy and Politics course and Capstone seminars for the Bush School of Government’s Master of Public Service and Administration Program. At Boise State University he has taught the Capstone courses and graduate courses on climate change policy and public service and global change. He is affiliated with the new SPS Urban Studies and Economic Development Program.

He has published in Political Research Quarterly, Public Administration Review, Ecology and Society, Applied Geography, Systems Dynamics Review, Regional Environmental Change, Review of Policy Research and other peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Lindquist has a Bachelor’s of Science in Geography, a Master’s of Urban Planning, and a Ph.D. in Political Science, all from Texas A&M University.

Jeffrey Lyons, Ph.D.

Political Science
Assistant Professor
School of Public Service, Survey Research Director

Research interests: American politics, specifically public opinion, political behavior, political psychology, and state politics.

Professor Jeffrey Lyons’ research focuses on American politics, specifically public opinion, political behavior, political psychology, and state politics. Professor Lyons earned his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his BS from the University of Idaho.

Courses: Introduction to Politics, Campaigns and Elections.

Lisa Meierotto, Ph.D.

Dr. Meierotto joined the School of Public Service in Fall 2017. An anthropologist, her research has focused on the relationship between Homeland Security, nature conservation and human rights on the border.

Meierotto earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Washington where she specialized in Environmental Anthropology. She also holds an M.A. in International Development, Community Planning and the Environment from Clark University.

Jillian Moroney, Ph.D.

Urban StudiesClinical Assistant Professor, School of Public Service

Research Interests: Development at the rural-urban interface, bioregional planning, public land preservation, stakeholder engagement, and community protection and use of natural resources.

Dr. Jillian Moroney enjoys working at the interface between society and natural resources. Her current research looks at development in the Treasure Valley in terms of farmland loss and water use. She is a main contributor to the Treasure Valley Water Atlas.

Dr. Moroney has worked with the Northwestern Advanced Renewables Alliance to complete a large-scale social assessment to determine what social benefits and barriers exist related to establishing a supply chain using woody biomass for liquid fuels in the Pacific Northwest.

Her areas of research and expertise include social assessment and stakeholder engagement regarding natural resource related topics including bioenergy, forestry, irrigation, and farmland. She earned her Ph.D. in environmental science and her M.A. in bioregional planning and community design, both from University of Idaho, and her B.A. in geology from Western Washington University. Dr. Moroney completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one at Western Washington University, and the second at Boise State University.

She is an active member in the Boise community. She is a commissioner on the City of Boise’s History Preservation Commission, and a board member of the Friends of the MK Nature Center.

Ashley Orme, M.A.

Ashley received her MA in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University in 2011. Her research interests include Conflict Management, Collaboration, Team Dynamics, Process Improvement and Organizational Culture.

Dr. Pappas joined the School of Public Service in Fall 2017 as Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution. His research focuses on formal and informal dispute systems, and includes changes in ADR (mediation, negotiation, arbitration) and campus sexual misconduct. Dr. Pappas came to Boise State from Michigan State University College of Law where he was Clinical Professor of Law, Title IX Coordinator, and Director of their Conflict Resolution Clinic.

Pappas earned a Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Kansas. He also holds an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution from University of Missouri School of Law, a J.D. from Wayne State University Law School, an MPP in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Sanghee Park, Ph.D.

Public Policy and Administration
Assistant Professor

Research interests: Dynamics that determines different types of policy outcomes, changes, and performances, which is often at the intersection of public administration and political science.

Sanghee Park is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy and Administration from Fall of 2014. Her research focuses on the management of human, financial, and organizational resources in public and quasi-public organizations. She is interested in the dynamics that determines different types of policy outcomes, changes, and performances, which is often at the intersection of public administration and political science.

Her recent articles appeared in the Journal of Public Policy, Public Performance Management Review, International Public Management Journal, Public Organization Review, and American Review of Public Administration. Dr. Park completed her Ph.D. and MPA at Seoul National University, Korea, in 2009 and won the Postdoc Fellowship from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Courses: Research Methods in Public Administration.

Mari Rice, M.S.

Mari Rice is a lecturer in the Environmental Studies Program and has taught at Boise State since 2013. She earned an M.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a B.A. in International Studies and Spanish from the University of Oregon. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Boise State and will be graduating in spring 2019.

Marc Ruffinengo, M.A.

Criminal Justice
Lecturer

Research interests: Police personnel issues and criminological theory

Marc Ruffinengo has been with the Department of Criminal Justice since 2013 and mostly instructs courses in research methods, criminological theory, and policing issues. He also infrequently teaches courses in criminal law & procedure and is a regular instructor in the university foundations program, teaching UF 200. He holds an M.A. from Boise State University and a B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Jen Schneider, Ph.D.

Public Policy and Administration
Professor
Director, PPA Ph.D. Program
School of Public Service Faculty Director

Research interests: Public communication of scientific and environmental controversies, with a particular focus on industry rhetoric and discourses of technical expertise.

Jen Schneider is Professor in the School of Public Service at Boise State University, where she is also the Director of the Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration, and serves as Faculty Director. She teaches courses in qualitative methods, the philosophy of social science, scientific and environmental policymaking, and energy policy.

Jen’s research addresses challenges in the public communication of social, scientific, and technological controversies, with a particular focus on industry rhetoric and discourses of technical expertise. Jen’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, including a recent grant to study cultures of expertise in the federal government. Other projects include the development of the Treasure Valley Water Atlas, a co-authored book on the rhetoric of the American coal industry—Under Pressure: Coal Industry Rhetoric and Neoliberalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). Jen has also coordinated large team science efforts, such as for the Idaho EPSCoR project, facilitates public meetings on environmental, social, and technological change, and consults on program evaluation projects.

Alex Severson, Ph.D.

Political Science
Visiting Assistant Professor

Research interests: Effects of partisanship and ideological impurity on candidate evaluations, how moral psychology and social status structure policy attitudes, experimental methodology and causal inference.

Alexander (Alex) Severson is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. Professor Severson primarily studies American Politics and Public Policy with specializations in the political psychology of partisanship and social status. He is interested in understanding the effects of partisanship and ideological impurity on candidate evaluations, how moral psychology and social status structure policy attitudes, and more generally in experimental methodology and causal inference. Professor Severson received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Florida State University (2018), an M.S. in Political Science from Florida State University (2014), and a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies at the University of South Carolina (2012).

Danielle Swerin, M.A.

Criminal Justice
Lecturer

Research interests: Victimology and victim services

Danielle Swerin is a lecturer in the Department of Criminal Justice. She received her Master of Arts in Criminal Justice and Certificate in Victim Services from Boise State in 2015.

Danielle has taught several introductory courses at Boise State, both in the classroom and online. She has also worked as a Victim Advocate and Interfaith Liaison for the Women’s and Children’s Alliance; a Domestic Violence Court Case Manager, also for the Women’s and Children’s Alliance; and a Senior Research Analyst for the Idaho State Police.

Stephen Utych, Ph.D.

Political Science
Assistant Professor

Research interests: Language in politics, the development of political attitudes, and how citizens seek out and process political information.

Professor Steve Utych’s research focuses on political psychology and political behavior, primarily in American politics. His research interests include language in politics, the development of political attitudes, and how citizens seek out and process political information. Dr. Utych received his Ph.D. in political science from Vanderbilt University and his B.S. in Public Policy from Georgia Tech.

Dr. Utych’s research examines how the language used to discuss politics can influence political attitudes. In particular, he studies how the words used to describe political events can have an influence on political attitudes, above and beyond the content of the information.

Julie VanDusky-Allen, Ph.D.

Political Science
Assistant Professor

Research interests: How political parties adapt to institutional limits on their power; how US troop deployments influence foreign policy decision making in other countries

Julie VanDusky-Allen received her Ph.D. in Political Science in August 2011 from Binghamton University. She currently teaches courses in comparative politics, American politics, and research methods. With respect to research, she focuses mostly on how political parties adapt to institutional limits on their power. She also examines how US troop deployments influence foreign policy decision making in other countries. Additionally, Julie received a Fulbright research scholarship to gather data and teach in Mexico City during the 2008-2009 academic year.

Emily Wakild, PhD

Environmental Studies, Program DirectorProfessor of History

Research interests: Nature Conservation, Resource Use, Science and Society, Latin American and Latina/o history.

Professor Emily Wakild became Program Director of Environmental Studies in 2018. She joined the faculty of the Department of History at Boise State University in 2012 as a historian of Latin America. She earned her Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of Arizona in 2007 and a B.A. in History and Politics from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon in 1999. She lives in Boise with her husband and two young children.

Dr. Wakild’s research tries to account for the ways various Latin American societies have deliberately conserved–or chosen not to exploit–nature in different times and places. Why did some of the most unequal and diverse societies in the world find space in their political agendas to create national parks? What role did frontier experiences, scientific expeditions, and residential knowledge have in understanding and celebrating certain landscapes? What did conservation men for humans, animals, and the larger social and environmental changes of the twentieth century? At present she is working on a comparative history of transnational conservation and scientific research in Amazonian and Patagonian South America. For this work, she has been awarded several competitive awards including a National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Scholars Award, and a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship.

Anthony Walsh, Ph.D.

Criminal Justice
Professor

Research interests: Criminology, with emphasis on biosocial theories.

Dr. Anthony Walsh has been a Professor of Criminal Justice at Boise State University since 1984, after earning a Ph.D. in Criminology from Bowling Green State University. His research in criminology, with emphasis on biosocial theories, has resulted in many publications and presentations. Dr. Walsh also serves as a manuscript reviewer and consulting editor for numerous journals, and is a guest editor for Biosocial Criminology for the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.

Courses: Research Statistics, Advanced Research Statistics, Law and Justice, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Police and the Community, Community-Based Corrections, Interviewing and Counseling in Criminal Justice, Advanced Interviewing and Counseling in Criminal Justice, Public Policy and Criminal Behavior, Psychobiology of Love and Human Behavior, Psychopaths and their Crimes, Theories of Crime, Senior Tutorial.

Brian Wampler, Ph.D.

Professor Brian Wampler focuses his research and teaching on Brazil and Latin America. Wampler has lived and conducted research in Brazil, Mexico, and Spain. Wampler earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas, Austin, and his BA in Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He lives in Boise, Idaho with his family.

Dr. Brian Wampler is the author of Participatory Budgeting in Brazil: Cooperation, Contestation, and Accountability (Pennsylvania State University Press 2007). In 2009-2010, Wampler was a Fulbright Scholar at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, located in Belo Horizonte Brazil. Based on this research Wampler has a forthcoming book, Activating Democracy in Brazil: Popular Participation, Social Justice and Interlocking Institutions (University of Notre Dame Press).

Jessica Wells, Ph.D.

Criminal Justice
Assistant Professor

Research interests: Biosocial underpinnings of antisocial behavior and associated psychological traits including self-control, aggression, and psychopathy; the role of stress in development; substance use and abuse.

Jessica Wells arrived at Boise State in Fall 2017 from Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas, where she was a Graduate Research Assistant for the College of Criminal Justice.

Wells received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice and Criminology from Sam Houston State, an M.A. in Criminal Justice and Criminology, also from Sam Houston State. She earned her in B.A. Criminology & Criminal Justice and English from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Stephanie Witt, Ph.D.

Public Policy and Administration
Professor
School of Public Service Director of Training

Dr. Stephanie Witt is Director of the Applied Research Center at Boise State University. She is also a Professor in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Political Science programs. She serves as Editor of the Social Science Journal.

Stephanie Witt began her career at Boise State in 1989 as a political science professor, after receiving her doctorate from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. She chaired the Political Science Department for six years, has served as Interim Associate Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs and was Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs for nearly six years.

Micah Wright, M.A.

Global StudiesLecturer

Research Interests: U.S. military interventions and occupations in the Caribbean and Latin America, Pan-Americanism and Latinoamericanismo, Puerto Rican military service and militarization in Puerto Rico, 1898-1930s, Inter-American relations.

Micah Wright is a lecturer in Boise State’s new Global Studies program. Prior to his arrival at Boise State, Wright was an Adjunct Professor at Lasell College and Bay State College, both in Massachusetts. He has also been a teaching Assistant at Texas A&M University and Northeastern University in Boston. He has published and presented widely on Latin American and Caribbean issues. Wright holds an M.A. in World History from Northeastern and expects to complete his Ph.D. from Texas A&M in December, 2017.

Scott Yenor, Ph.D.

Political Science
Professor

Research interests: Political philosophy

Scott Yenor is a Professor of Political Science at Boise State University, where he teaches political philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. from Loyola University, Chicago and his B.A. from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Dr. Yenor is the author of articles on David Hume and the Scottish Enlightenment, presidential power, literature and politics, and of Family Politics: The Idea of Marriage in Modern Political Thought (Baylor 2011). He is currently working on several projects, including a book on the principles of family regime for the late modern world, David Hume’s humanity, and an analysis of American Reconstruction.

John Ysursa, Ph.D

Global Studies

Research interests: Boise, intersection between global and local interests, Basque culture including issues of identity, immigration, rituals, history, music, song and dance.

In addition to co-directing and teaching in the Global Studies program, Ysursa is also a professor in the Boise State history department and Director of Boise State’s Basque Studies Consortium. He serves as managing editor of one of Boise State’s first online academic journals, BOGA: Basque Studies Consortium Journal.A Boise native, Ysursa is actively involved in the Basque-American community including cultural endeavors that bridge the worlds of academia and popular culture.

Faculty Emeriti

Les Alm, Ph.D.

Public Policy and Administration
University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus

Research interests: Environmental policy with attention to the science-policy linkage, the United States-Canada relationship, and borderlands issues.

Professor Alm is a Boise State University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus. He is currently teaching in the Department of Public Policy & Administration each spring semester. Professor Alm’s primary research interests are environmental policy with attention to the science-policy linkage, the United States-Canada relationship, and borderlands issues.

Richard Kinney, Ph.D.

Political Science
Professor, Emeritus

Research interests: American government and politics.

Professor Richard Kinney became a member of the Political Science department in August of 1976. After he had retired from his full-time responsibilities in the spring of 2014, he assumed a more limited role in the phased retirement program the following August. He earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. His political science courses focused on American government and politics. For many years he coordinated the department’s advising program.

Also, he served in the Master of Public Administration Program from 1976 until the spring of 2012. His courses mainly covered public budgeting and public policy processes. His research interest was state budgeting politics and processes. Since 1991, he regularly contributed at the state budgeting roundtables convened at the Western Political Science Association annual meetings with his analyses of Idaho state budgeting. The Center for Public and Administration at the University of Utah and the California Journal of Politics and Policy published his papers.

Susan Mason, Ph.D.

School of Public Service
Professor, Emerita

Research interests: Regional governance and economics, community development, and sustainability.

Dr. Susan G. Mason is Professor, Emerita and former Director of Strategic Initiatives for the School of Public Service and Professor and Founding Director of the department and programs in Community and Regional Planning at Boise State University. She specializes in research in regional governance and economics, community development, and sustainability. She earned her Master’s of Public Policy & Public Administration and Ph.D. of Political Science from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She has been a visiting scholar at Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo and taught abroad at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic and in Sicily, Italy with a joint program for the University of Memphis and the University of Catania,Sicily.

Dr. Mason’s co-edited book with Drs. Sara Hughes and Eric Chu, Climate Change in Cities: Innovations in Multilevel Governance was published by Springer (2018). Her research has also been published in several peer-reviewed journals including, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Economic Development Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, Applied Geography, Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, Public Works Management & Policy, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, and the International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology.

Gary Moncrief, Ph.D.

Political ScienceUniversity Distinguished Professor, Emeritus

Dr. Gary Moncrief is a University Foundation Research Scholar and University Distinguished Professor of Political Science.

Dr. Moncrief received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. In addition to serving on the Boise State faculty for over 30 years, he has been a visiting professor at the University of Washington and Rutgers University. Dr. Moncrief has published six books and more than 55 journal articles and book chapters on various aspects of state politics — especially state legislatures. Dr. Moncrief is a frequent speaker at meetings and workshops for state officials around the country.

Todd Shallat, Ph.D.

School of Public Service
Professor, Emeritus

Research interests: Cities, Boise

Todd Shallat writes and teaches about cities, technology, and the environment. His publications include 24 books and more than 50 book chapters and essays. Literary honors include the Henry Adam Prize for historical writing, the Abel Wolman Award for engineering history, two silver medals for trade-book publishing, and three Idaho Book Awards. In 2002, Shallat was named the Carnegie Foundation’s Idaho Professor of the Year.

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